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Drug Abuse

The consequences of addiction are harmful and destructive for everyone involved.

The problem may be excruciatingly obvious for family and friends, but for the person struggling with addiction, the problem may be impossible to comprehend.

There is much speculation regarding the root cause of addiction. Regardless of how it starts, the psychological effects of addiction can be devastating.

The implications to cognition often present with denial, distorted, obsessive and grandiose thinking.

Cognitive Complications

The effect on cognition can be devastating. The parts of the brain that are associated with addiction are also involved in memory, learning, and reasoning.

The effect is twofold; it both damages neural connections and alters other connections in such a way that the addictive substance’s pleasurable effect is basically burned into the user’s memory.

This effect can make it difficult for the person to recover, but with abstinence the brain will heal. The healing process just takes time.

Denial

Denial of the addiction is extremely common and, unfortunately, is not something that everyone overcomes.

The denial might manifest itself as a student who abuses a prescription for ADHD amphetamines and tells themselves that it is medicine and they need to take more than prescribed.

The denial is a defense mechanism that allows the person who is using to continue to do so. The drug user’s brain is actually telling him or her to deny that there is any problem because the brain actually believes that it needs the drug to survive.

The person may fear admitting being addicted because then they believe that they will have to stop using. The person may attempt to convince themselves and others that they do not have a problem, however, that in and of itself indicates that there is in fact a problem.

The problem is actually in the mind of the user and he or she will need help seeing the situation for what it is.

Distorted Thinking

Distorted thinking is a given with people who are suffering from the disease of addiction. The diseased brain tells the person that all that matters is the drink or drug.

There are many ways that thinking may be distorted. The thought process may fall into such categories as generalizing, catastrophizing, blaming, personalizing, and “all-or-nothing” thinking.

The person’s thinking is often elaborately distorted, both in how they view themselves and in how they believe others view them. The distorted thinking usually works to excuse negative behavior, such as using drugs and alcohol to excess.

The addicted person may even believe that no one is being harmed by his or her use of alcohol or drugs.

Obsessive Thinking

Obsession occurs in cases of addiction. The addicted person may spend all resources to obtain the substance of abuse. This often manifests in a complete takeover of the user’s life by the substance.

Eventually, it is all that the person thinks about and everything else is seen through a lens of how their using is perceived, whether their drug of choice is welcome or opposed, and whether a person, place or thing helps obtain more. A person who is using may change friends, jobs, and anything else that is seen as a threat to his or her using.

Grandiosity

The addicted person often feels that they desperately need the substance, even to survive. Due to this extreme emotional attachment to the substance, the person may believe that everyone should work to help them obtain more or, at the very least, not stand in their way.

Grandiose thinking is characterized by the belief that what matters to the individual must be of the upmost importance to everyone else. This thought pattern is best described as exceptionally selfish and self-centered.

The person may truly believe that their needs are as important to everyone else as they are to themselves. Everything is about them. Grandiosity is often a companion to obsessive thinking, with which thoughts are centered on the substance of abuse.

Hope for the Hopeless

A person that is addicted and actively abusing a substance can be extremely difficult to communicate with openly, honestly, and productively.

For people suffering from the disease of addiction and their loved ones, the more that is known about the disease, the better the chances for recovery.

There is a misconception among younger people that using a drug once will not cause harm. This misunderstanding is possibly why many people are dying while experimenting with any one of what is known as “club drugs.”
Drugs that are commonly found in clubs or raves are extremely dangerous. The uppers, downers, and hallucinogens that are passed around party scenes are killing the drug users in staggering numbers.

Dabbling in Uppers

Stimulants such as Meth or Ecstasy are a common occurrence in clubs and raves where people are enticed by the allure of more energy and feelings of euphoria. However, club drugs pose extreme risks to the user’s health in a variety of ways, especially when mixed with other drugs such as alcohol or another depressant.Meth, also known as Crystal Meth or Methamphetamine, puts an enormous amount of strain on the heart. It spectacularly raises a person’s heart rate and can cause an irregular heartbeat. It also creates delirium, psychosis, panic, heart failure and, consequently, sudden death.Ecstasy, also known as Molly, has both stimulant and hallucinogenic properties. This combination caused it to seemingly invade and actually perpetuate the rave scene in the 1980’s. It creates an altered state of consciousness – which includes time, sensations, sexuality, pleasure and empathy. This drug decreases people’s inhibitions and can lead to accidental death or harm as a result of users unwittingly getting into a dangerous situation.
Ecstasy is also highly addictive and can cause permanent health issues such as brain lesions, brain damage, cognitive impairment, paranoia, anxiety, memory loss, insomnia, anhedonia, and death.

Diving into Downers

Two of the downers seen in clubs and raves are perhaps more commonly known as “date rape” drugs. Both GHB and Rohypnol have been seen in cases of drugging, rape, and death, however, despite the danger, some people taking these drugs willingly.GHB is used to treat narcolepsy in very rare cases. It is a central nervous system depressant, which may create aphrodisiac properties and have a slightly stimulating effect in low doses. In higher doses it can immobilize and numb a person, which will cause them to be easily overpowered.Rohypnol is considered to be one of the more powerful benzodiazepines and is prescribed for short term relief of insomnia. The drug is known to be associated with rape due to its effect of rendering a person unconscious and causing amnesia. The assaulted person may have difficulties recalling the attack.

Handling Your Hallucinogens

Hallucinogens are popular club drugs due to their ability to create a sense of altered mental and emotional states and changes in perception. These drugs have seen an explosion of interest since the Second World War, as a result of the synthesis of LSD and later from interest into its potential as a psychiatric treatment option. These drugs are sometimes thought to be less harmful than other types of drugs. However, that perception is completely wrong.LSD is a psychoactive drug that induces feelings of belonging, euphoria, an altered state of consciousness and a heightened spiritual experience. This is a powerful drug that raises body temperature, increases heart rate and blood pressure and can cause muscle tremors and weakness. It has also been known to cause such adverse effects as paranoia, panic, and sometimes creates lasting mental disorders in those who use it. It can also lead to overdose, permanent damage and death.PCP, or angel dust, is another extremely dangerous drug. It is often thought to create superhuman strength, but actually causes only the delusion of strength, power and invincibility. Physically, it causes numbness, poor coordination and balance, slurred speech, excessive sweating, convulsions and death. Its effect on the user is highly unpredictable and may either energize or sedate a person. As it affects everyone differently, the mental symptoms are extensive and may include aggression, paranoia, rage, depersonalization, hallucinations, and changes in perception.Ketamine is legal in some parts of the world and is used for anesthesia purposes. It works as both a sedative, painkiller, and hallucinogen. It is substantially shorter acting that PCP or other similar drugs. It causes the users to be put in a trance, and creates a dissociative state, during which derealization and depersonalization occurs. A “K hole” occurs in higher doses and causes feelings of being completely out of one’s body, distant from reality, and is accompanied by hallucinations. It was banned in some countries, such as Great Britain, due to the number of deaths attributed to it, especially amongst younger groups.

Don’t Do Drugs

By definition, club drugs are illegal and produced in makeshift conditions, making every pill or drop different from the next. Due to their high potency, unpredictable doses and unknown mixing compounds, they have a strong tendency to cause permanent physical and mental damage or death.
There has been an enormous amount of media coverage regarding prescription pills. However, with those substances in the limelight, deadlier drugs such as club drugs, perhaps, are not getting the attention they deserve.
Everyone reacts differently, but every high is a gamble for each and every person. It only requires one badly placed bet to permanently crippled a person, or kill.

Safe Injection Sites

In Ithaca, NY there are rumors of a new drug safe injection site in the works. An injection site is considered a safe place for people to use intravenous drugs under the supervision of health care providers, thus decreasing the probability of overdose and death. Supervised Injection Sites or SIS have been a reality in Canada and elsewhere in the world for years but they have not been authorized in the United States due to a lack of government support. The United States needs catch up and join other prosperous nations in how the issue of illegal drug use is addressed.

Cold Hard facts

Despite initial conjecture that the safe injection sites would promote and increase illegal drug use the results of scientific studies have proven that they actually do the opposite. The results of 15 years of data collection in Canada has shown an improvement in the local drug problem. These harm reduction programs have succeeded in decreasing the number of people using drugs intravenously and had a significant impact on the spread of disease due to drug use.

All required equipment for injecting IV drugs is supplied at the safe injection site as well as the safe disposal of used needles and other potentially hazardous items. Staff is on-site and able to respond immediately in the event of an overdose. One Canadian safe injection site, InSite, recorded over 1400 overdoses between 2004 and 2010, where not a single death occurred and a 35% decrease in overdoses at the injection site compared to only 9% citywide. Additionally, they are providing medical support such as immunizations and wound care to people who would not otherwise have access to health care.

Stepping Stone in the Right Direction

Perhaps the most important aspect of the SIS is that drug addicts are able to gain access to support services such as counseling, mental health care, support groups and referrals to further treatment options. People in their active addiction who otherwise would be left in the dark are able to get exposure to the idea of recovery. Being able to reach and converse openly with active drug users is vitally important in order to help people suffering from the disease of addiction into recovery. People working in these safe injection sites are able to build a report and gain the trust of active addicts when nearly no one else is able to. The opportunity to be close to someone when they become open to the idea of recovery is priceless.

The results are in for safe injection sites and they are clearly working to better the lives of addicts and society in general. With the rise of heroin in America and all the risks that come with drug use, we must have a complete overhaul to how we tackle the problem of drugs in our county. We need to build these SISs in neighborhoods most affected by illegal drug use. We need to create the avenues into recovery and bridge the gaps between the streets and costly treatment institutions. These sites have worked elsewhere so why are they not already here in the United States?

Krokodil is one the deadliest, and most disturbing, drugs on Earth. It is created by mixing codeine and household chemicals, gasoline, or just about anything that is cheap and readily available. It is spreading because people are able to get an intense high at a fraction of the cost of regular heroin.
The people most at risk of using this horrendous drug are those who are already addicted to other opiates and are willing to use anything to achieve a high.
Potentially, this is just the beginning of the outbreak.

History of Liquid Death

This deadly compound is appealing to users looking for a low cost substitute for heroin.
The origin of the drug is desomorphine, an opiate 10 times more powerful than morphine, which was first patented in the first half of the twentieth century.Amateur drug makers, however, began synthesizing it by “cooking” the easily accessed codeine with a variety of chemicals.
This horrifying drug started in Russia where the main ingredient, codeine, was available over-the counter at the time of this outbreak. Initially used only in rural areas, this drug has been spreading, like an atomic blast, in every direction from its epicenter. It first surfaced in the United States in 2012 and the number of cases and states affected is growing. The DEA has not confirmed any of the cases as they have not been able to apprehend any drug samples from those displaying symptoms.
Testimonies of the first victims of this drug demonstrate the fundamental risks that come with using street drugs. They had no idea what they were buying and using before it was too late.

Side Effects

The use of Krokodil simply spells death. Though all intravenous drug use is potentially deadly, users of Krokodil are given a maximum of a couple of years to live once they start using the drug.This quick kill is due to what happens once it is injected. The danger of this drug comes from the poisonous chemicals used to cut the codeine. The phosphorous or other toxins that result from synthesis cause massive tissue damage and cellular death once injected. The result is horrific sores, necrotic limbs and missing chunks from the user’s body, earning it the nicknames “the flesh-eating drug” and “zombie-drug.”
Pictures of people who have used the drug are jaw-dropping. At first it seems fake and as if still photos from the Walking Dead were accidentally accessed instead. It is nothing short of haunting.
Essentially, anyone who decides to use Krokodil is committing suicide.

There is Help

The fundamental problem with containing the spread of a drug like this is that is seems to piggy back off the desperation of already active drug users. It is shockingly easy to make and the ingredients are cheap. The actual cost, however, is the life and limbs of those who use it. It is not a bargain.
For those struggling with an addiction to heroin, or any substance, please seek help before using this drug.

The most damaging and costly epidemic in the United States is substance abuse. Alcoholism and Drug addiction have the potential to irrevocably damage the user. Drugs and alcohol are in fact poison and the use of these substances can cause significant health problems.

The effects that substances have on the mind and body can be devastating. Whether it be liver failure, stroke, or death, there is a very real danger in using and abusing substances.

Naturally, there is a wide variation between substances with regards to risk. One beer does not typically pose the same immediate threat as the intravenous use of street drugs. However, repeated use of any substances can cause health complications, regardless of how benign it may seem initially.

Struggling with Alcohol Abuse

When it comes to alcohol, everyone has different level of tolerance and it is up to the individual to determine what is a healthy amount. For instance, Men are scientifically proven to be able to safely drink more than women.

Long-term overuse of alcohol can lead to liver failure, esophageal corrosion, hallucinations, frontal lobe damage and a host of other physical ailments. For those who struggle with alcoholism the risk to physical well-being is amplified as the individual may have already done extensive physical damage that may become exacerbated.

Alcohol is a depressant. Even a small amount has an effect on the brain and, consequently, a person’s psychological processes. It can cause depression, anxiety and many other emotional and mental disorders.

It is vitally important to know how alcohol affects you and to respond appropriately.

Downward Spiral of Drug Abuse

While the extreme danger of using some drugs is commonly known, drug use of any kind can cause serious health problems.

One of the biggest trends is the abuse of prescription pills. The most commonly abused groups among prescription drugs is opioids, Central Nervous System (CNS) depressants, and amphetamines. Every one of these have a long list of side-effects, ranging from mild to life-threatening, but they all carry one in common – the potential to develop an addiction or chemical dependence.

It is a myth and dangerous misconception that only using one time won’t cause damage. There are plenty of cases where someone tried a drug “just once” and found themselves having to relearn how to walk, read and write. That is, if they were lucky and lived unlike many users. Drugs are inherently dangerous and all it takes is one bad batch to kill.

All illegal drugs carry an extra level of danger as there is no way of predicting what you are actually getting. There are instances of drugs that destroy tissue to such an extent that they literally eat a person from the inside out.

Any drug, by definition, becomes more dangerous when used intravenously. IV Drugs use is more likely to kill; Whether via overdose, due to the increase in potency and potential for miscalculation, or from the spread of lethal illness.

Saying No and Meaning It

The prevalence of drug and alcohol use in the United States is reaching an all-time high. Drugs and alcohol are costing this country more money and causing more suffering than any other disease.

The negative physical and mental side effects of drug and alcohol use should be clearly understood by the person before he or she starts using. If you are planning on picking up, please, know the risks.